By Mari Radtke
DGR Engineering contracted with the City of Primghar several years ago to expand the community’s wastewater lagoons. The old lagoons were at capacity and would be unable to handle any growth the city might experience.
After much consideration, a design, size and technology were selected. The project is ongoing today, but nearing an end. A punch list for the contractor is in place.
Mike and Marian attended the regular Tuesday August 12 meeting of the council to update since January the project status and to request some payments.
Mike explained that as of June 17, 2025 the project is considered substantially complete. He described that as it will start up, work, produce affluent and discharge. The city is holding a 15% retainage. He requested the retainer to be released for completed items. After releasing those funds the city would be retaining 2 – 5% of the total retainer amount or about $192,000.
The water blower building was revealed as an issue for council members. Flooding has penetrated the new blower building and Councilman Ryan Jenness was first to speak about the situations with the building. The biggest concern is the sheetrock inside. The sheetrock went all the way to the floor, not a standard construction practice. He could not understand why sheetrock was in that building in the first place.

Marian started the update by saying, “RP Contractors has responded by doing some regrading trying to allow the water to move out faster.”
Mike explained that the system is build as a gravity flow system starting in Cell 1 and flowing to Cell 2 until it is discharged. The old Cell 2 flooded in 2024, he reminded Council. He also noted that the short, intense rain events add to the flooding. He went on to explain how the contractor was reshaping the ground, slopes and other protective measures to protect the blower building. The blower pushes air into the system to produce aeration the supports and promotes aerobic digestion, helping to clean the water before discharge into the stream.
Jenness asked, “Why sheetrock if the building is wet or wettish instead of plastic like in hog barns?” He made it clear that he did not want to accept the project with the building as it is. “We will just be fighting this. We promised the citizens we would give them everything they needed and we’re left with that?” He later asked about a retention wall around the building. Councilman Kevin Smith supported the question by saying, “We shouldn’t have a big wet room.” Marian said that they’ve been working with RP to get fixes and Jenness asked if that is a cost to the city. She replied with an emphatic, “NO.”
Jenness went on, “The building is junk, for the money we spent.” He went to the beginning of the project and reminded the engineers that the project started $300,000 behind at the beginning for the cleanout. (Some of that cost has been recovered through agreements with Lynch Livestock.) The additional cleanout was due to inaacurate measuring the sludge at the bottom of Cell 2. There was apparently far more in it that was originally measured. Ryan was very clear at this point that he did not feel the city has to pay for the fixes to the project.
Mike responded by supporting “our guys.” He said, “I stand behind our guys. Lynch Livestock has their woodchips and things, then added a filter and screen, sounding like something they did contributed the excess. He went on to calm the situation by separating the issues for discussion. He also pointed out a couple times that the project is under budget.
The building is down low. Culverts are below the base of the buildings and bridge. The water flows from the culverts to the east but it doesn’t seem to be at the lowest point.
There are also concerns expressed by Council about media placed around the cell walls, not being in the correct place or will press into the soil.
The engineers propose that the drainage problem will be fixed on the southwest side; the culverts are at a 200 year flood elevation. He suggested lowering the culverts, believing that lowering from northeast corner to the south, water would drain faster if lowered; fix the west culvert with lots of dirt and down spout. Mike also noted that much of the project in a year will still be under warranty.
Mike maintains that grading is the biggest issue. Mayor Kurt Edwards clearly stated, “We want a dry building.”
Ryan returned to engineering costs. It appears that engineering costs continue to accrue as engineers work with the contractor to figure out how to fix the problems that the design and/or construction do not. Jenness wanted to know, “Why are we paying to fix what should have been protected?” with Smith adding, “Why are we paying (engineering fees) again, it’s not our issue?”
Mike explained that the grading was incorrect and not to the culverts. Site grading was incorrect. The result is that the drainage does not do the job it was supposed to do. It was not built as designed, according to the engineers.
As the discussion came to its end, the sheetrock will be replaced and installed at the proper height, culverts will be added or adjusted as needed.
They closed with currently the project is about $75,000 under budget. Once the project closes the forgivable loan closes. The money the city has drawn on it will not have any payments attached to it.